Price level convergence, purchasing power parity and multiple structural breaks: an application to US cities

This article provides a fresh methodological and empirical approach for assessing price level convergence and its relation to purchasing power parity (PPP) using annual price data for seventeen US cities. We suggest a new procedure that can handle a wide range of PPP concepts in the presence of multiple structural breaks using all possible pairs of real exchange rates. To deal with cross-sectional dependence, we use both cross-sectional demeaned data and a parametric bootstrap approach. In general, we find more evidence for stationarity when the parity restriction is not imposed, while imposing parity restriction provides leads toward the rejection of the panel stationar- ity. Our results can be embedded on the view of the Balassa-Samuelson approach, but where the slope of the time trend is allowed to change in the long-run. The median half-life point estimate are found to be lower than the consensus view regardless of the parity restriction.

Interprovincial disparities in China since the reforms: Convergence or divergence?

This paper investigates the extent of disparities amongst the provinces of China since the economic reform in 1978 up to the most recent year for which data is available. After a brief review of theoretical and in particular recent empirical literature on regional inequality in China it investigates whether or not the dynamic economic growth in China has been coupled with increasing disparities amongst the Chinese provinces. The paper utilises a few models of convergence along the lines of those hypothesised by neoclassical economists. It employs per capita income and per capita consumption to identify the possible absolute and conditional convergence since the economic reforms. The coverage and impact of the disparities in terms of the relative size of population affected are then taken into account in the analysis of inequality in income and consumption.

Known and new results on absolute convergence of Fourier integrals

New sufficient conditions for representation of a function via the absolutely convergent Fourier integral are obtained in the paper. In the main result, Theorem 1.1, this is controlled by the behavior near infinity of both the function and its derivative. This result is extended to any dimension d &= 2.

Human capital spillovers, productivity and regional convergence in Spain

This paper analyses the differential impact of human capital, in terms of different levels of schooling, on regional productivity and convergence. The potential existence of geographical spillovers of human capital is also considered by applying spatial panel data techniques. The empirical analysis of Spanish provinces between 1980 and 2007 confirms the positive impact of human capital on regional productivity and convergence, but reveals no evidence of any positive geographical spillovers of human capital. In fact, in some specifications the spatial lag presented by tertiary studies has a negative effect on the variables under consideration.

Evolutionary and convergence stability for continuous phenotypes in finite populations derived from two-allele models.

The evolution of a quantitative phenotype is often envisioned as a trait substitution sequence where mutant alleles repeatedly replace resident ones. In infinite populations, the invasion fitness of a mutant in this two-allele representation of the evolutionary process is used to characterize features about long-term phenotypic evolution, such as singular points, convergence stability (established from first-order effects of selection), branching points, and evolutionary stability (established from second-order effects of selection). Here, we try to characterize long-term phenotypic evolution in finite populations from this two-allele representation of the evolutionary process. We construct a stochastic model describing evolutionary dynamics at non-rare mutant allele frequency. We then derive stability conditions based on stationary average mutant frequencies in the presence of vanishing mutation rates. We find that the second-order stability condition obtained from second-order effects of selection is identical to convergence stability. Thus, in two-allele systems in finite populations, convergence stability is enough to characterize long-term evolution under the trait substitution sequence assumption. We perform individual-based simulations to confirm our analytic results.

Analyse des pratiques de RSE des clubs sportifs professionnels français

Autrefois réservé à la grande entreprise, le concept de Responsabilité Sociétale des Entreprises (RSE) s'étend aujourd'hui à l'ensemble des organisations. Dans cette optique, cet article s'intéresse aux déterminants et aux modalités de mise en oeuvre des pratiques de RSE dans les clubs sportifs pro- fessionnels français. À partir d'un cadre d'analyse permettant d'associer les approches institutionnelles et stratégiques en matière de RSE, nous montrons la difficulté pour ces organisations « hybrides » de trouver un équilibre entre les logiques d'action qui les animent. Les résultats montrent que les quatre cas de clubs étudiés (de basket-ball et de football) exercent des pratiques de RSE revêtant surtout une forme cosmétique. L'émergence de nouvelles formes de RSE laisse pourtant entrevoir des pratiques plus intégrées à même de réduire la tension entre les logiques économiques et sociales de ces organisations.

Absolute convergence of Fourier integrals

In this survey, results on the representation of a function as an absolutely convergent Fourier integral are collected, classified and discussed. Certain applications are also given.

Moduli of smoothness and rate of a.e. convergence for some convolution operators

Vegeu el resum a l'inici del document del fitxer adjunt.

Com conduir sessions de lectura fàcil : directrius d'organització, planificació i dinamització dels clubs de lectura fàcil

Aquest treball pretén millorar la comprensió lectora dels assistents als clubs de Lectura Fàcil existents a Catalunya a través de la presentació d'una guia de conducció de clubs que presenta un model d'estratègies a seguir en les sessions de lectura. Aquestes orientacions seran útils als conductors novells que no són ni especialistes en didàctica de la llengua ni en literatura i que necessiten resoldre els dubtes de dinamització lectora en els col·lectius amb dificultats lectores. Les estratègies d'aprenentatge proposades provenen de la teoria constructivista en educació que aposta per una actitud molt més activa del lector i aprenent adult d'una L2. De la valoració organitzativa i estratègica de les sessions d'alguns dels clubs i, més concretament, de la tasca duta a terme durant tres anys al Club de Lectura Fàcil de la Biblioteca Mestre Martí Tauler de Rubí, del "com es llegeix" i del si "es comprèn allò llegit", sorgeix la necessitat que el conductor planifiqui acuradament les sessions de treball atenent uns objectius de lectura i el treball d'unes habilitats lectores concretes. Així, doncs, en aquest treball s'ofereixen algunes eines per a la planificació d'aquestes sessions de lectura.